


To be A Part of His Blaze

by BreakTheDawn



Category: Tales of Series, Tales of Xillia
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 11:51:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10696440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BreakTheDawn/pseuds/BreakTheDawn
Summary: This thing between them, this understanding, that they’ve developed slowly ever since their jobs started intersecting more and more two years ago. It’s never felt quite so...intimate before. Ivar would be lying if he said he didn’t like it though.ORTwo years after the events of Xillia 2, Jude and Ivar have become...close?





	To be A Part of His Blaze

**Author's Note:**

> So I just had to get this story bug out and into the world lol! This is my first fic in the Xillia fandom, and I can honestly say that this ship snuck up on me out of nowhere! I kept thinking about What-ifs and possibilities and...just this.  
> Please enjoy the shippy fun

It starts like this.

 

Ivar is on assignment in the Tatalian Abyss, collecting some samples for Helioborg, something he’s found himself doing a lot since Spirius decided to officially back and sponsor the Faker’s research. (He doesn’t particularly mind, if he’s being honest with himself, that research is something that Lady Milla always believed in. Ivar found himself believing in it just as strongly quite some time ago.)

 

He’s doing his thing, collecting samples of crystals and mana ores and taking out any monsters that happen to get in his way when it happens. 

 

It happens fast (and Ivar is very fast, so he knows what fast looks like), one second he’s filling one of the vials, the next he’s flying off the face of a nearby drop, a sharp pain in his side. All in all, the spirius agent has about three seconds in total to process the situation before he hits the ground, hard.  And then everything is black.

 

When he wakes, some two or three hours later by his senses, Ivar really regrets everything.

 

It doesn’t take but a moment to register that his right arm is broken, and that something is misaligned in his back., which could be really bad. And then there’s the issue of the gaping wound on his left side. Ivar can feel that his uniform is soaked with blood, which sucks, because he’d just gotten it dry-cleaned the other day.

 

“Why do things like this always happen to me?” he grumbles under his breath, voice raspy with both pain and the dryness of his throat. A brief moment reveals that he can still kind of feel his legs, so nothing is too bad in his back yet. But Ivar has to move, and he doesn’t know what trying will do. 

 

The agent takes a breath before angling his head up and sniffing the air. Beyond the smell of his own blood, he can just barely smell the dirt of his surroundings. The only dirt that smells like it’s been disturbed is the stuff beneath his back, and he doesn’t smell any monsters near either, so he has a bit of time to figure out what to do.

 

Ivar coughs, spitting out a bit of blood to his side. 

 

Not that much time. Ivar curses, if his own body doesn’t fail him with the next ten minutes, then the amount of blood will surely attract the nasties of this place. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t worry. Ivar survives, it’s what he’s good at. But he knows for a fact that he doesn’t have any gels on him, and that’s bad. 

 

Ivar grunts, moving his relatively-unharmed left arm in position to push up as much as he can, careful to avoid twisting too much.

 

“Of all the rotten luck,” he murmurs to himself, looking around blearily. There’s a large stone formation not too far with smooth edges and a soft incline. “Good enough,” Ivar sighs. 

 

Pushing himself back towards is hard. Ivar survives, so he’s taken a lot of pain in the past, but this is…

 

The spirius agent gags, both from the pain and slightly from the sight of his blood trailing behind him as he moves towards the rock. But he keeps going, because if he’s going to find some way out of this, he at least needs to get himself to a somewhat defendable position. Worst comes to pass, he’ll be able to use his artes to attack from a range if something gets too close. 

 

Ivar feels like it takes hours to get his back resting as comfortably as possible against the rock, but he knows it’s probably closer to a few minutes. He retains the slight feeling in his legs, thankfully, so nothing goes too awry there. But the bleeding from his wound does escalate a bit. Which is bad. A lot of things are going badly today.

 

Breathing heavily, the spirius agent suddenly remembers his GHS 

 

“There’s an idea,” knowing his luck, it’s probably broken. But Ivar hasn’t lived to see nineteen by not trying every angle he possibly can. It takes a bit of creative maneuvering, but Ivar is eventually able to fish the device from his back pocket. 

 

“Of course,” Ivar sighs as he looks at the broken screen. No phone calls or texts. But that’s ok, he thinks, fingers finding a hard button at the bottom left corner and pressing in, holding for five seconds. 

 

An emergency measure, installed on all GHS phones for Spirius Agents. It’s supposed to work regardless of the state of the device, sending out a beacon that should ping a computer in the headquarters with his location. He’s never personally had to use it before, but he has been the responding agent to several of them in the past. If the signal is able to travel out of this place, someone should definitely be here soon. 

 

A bit more relieved, Ivar leans his head back against the rock, letting out a slow breath. Everything is starting to hurt a bit less, he hopes that he makes it. 

 

“Didn’t even finish the mission,” Ivar groans out, feeling his eyes slip closed. A small part of him is shouting in his mind for him to stay awake. But the bigger part knows that he’s done all that he’s capable of doing at this point in time. 

 

The spirius agent lets his body go lax and lets himself drift off

 

....

 

He wakes up to the cool sensation of a healing arte.

 

It’s not the strongest one he’s ever felt before, but Ivar can immediately tell that it’s being performed by an expert. His wound is closing slowly, but Ivar can feel the damage beneath the surface knitting itself together too, something that takes a level of precision most healers don’t have innately. There’s no pain from his back now, and his right arm seems to be set for the moment as opposed to fully healed. Ivar tries to remember if any recents spirius agents are doctors. 

 

“You’re awake?” a familiar voice asks softly.

 

Oh.

 

_ Ohhhhh….dammit _ .

 

Ivar opens his eyes slowly, gaze focusing in on Jude Mathis’ face.

 

The boy seems completely calm for having a streak of blood on his cheek and more splattered onto his normally pristine lab coat. Ivar sighs inwardly. Of course Jude came, Ivar’s life wouldn’t be his if the guy wasn’t in it in some way.

 

Jude seems completely engrossed in his task of putting Ivar back together, so the agent has a chance to examine him a bit more closely than he normally does. It’s been a few months since he’s last seen Lady Milla’s knight, and in it Jude seems to have grown into himself a bit more in just that short amount of time. He’s still got the ridiculous wild hair look going on, though it seems to have gotten a bit longer. His face has sharpened up a bit, a little bit less baby fat, a little more defining to his jaw. Ivar can even see the tiniest hints of stubble around Jude’s jaw and chin, subtle enough that he wouldn’t be able to tell if he wasn’t this close. 

 

The researcher looks up, amber eyes meeting Ivar’s through long lashes. Jude smiles a bit.

 

“You with me now?” he asks. Ivar sighs.

 

“Yeah,” he mutters back, “how’d you know to come?”

 

It’s a good question. Jude is not a spirius agent, and while he has the same attachment to his GHS (something a good number of people forced on the researcher after he got attacked by Exudos the third time since the whole Origin trial debacle), Ivar knows for a fact the the younger boy doesn’t make a habit of going to the Spirius headquarters. 

 

“Right place, right time,” Jude answers, looking back down to his work on Ivar’s side. “They got your signal, an agent was leaving the building to come for you. Leia was there working on a piece, caught wind of what was happening, so she called me. Helioborg is closer to this place than Spirius, so I left right away.”

 

What is it the mercenary always called Jude? A do-gooder?

 

“What’s the damage?” Ivar asks. He must have been out for a good spell, considering Jude seems about done with the healing.

 

“I took care of the injury to your spinal cord first,” Jude explains, “it could have been a lot worse, but you managed to move without exacerbating it enough to sever any nerves or such, so all it took was moving it back into place.”

 

“Your right arm was broken in several places,” the boy continues, “I’m actually going to wait until I get you back to Helioborg to heal that in tandem with some of the medical equipment there. In order to shorten your recovery time and avoid physical therapy.”

 

“You’re taking me to Helioborg?” Ivar questions.

 

“That’s where you were going to end up anyway, right?” Jude pulls back, and Ivar realizes that his side feels good as new now. And in Elympios no less, he can’t help but be impressed by Jude’s skill. “Thank you for these,” the researcher holds up what Ivar realizes is the vials with the samples he’d been collecting, “I don’t quite know what they told you about what was needed, but these are about double the volume of samples that we agreed on.”

 

Ivar’s eyes widen. It took him  _ hours  _ to get all of those, and he only needed to get half!?

 

“You always have gone above and beyond,” Jude says with a chuckle, “for better or for worse.”

 

Ivar flushes, “Y-you could just say thanks, you know!” Jude has the nerve to laugh again!

 

“I guess you’re right about that,” the boy agrees. “Thank you Ivar,” he says softly, with an equally soft smile. 

 

Ivar flushes even more. 

 

“O-of course,” he mutters, “any time! I’m clearly the best person for the job if no one else brings you that much!”

 

“Well when you put it that way,” Jude raises an eyebrow, getting to his feet and brushing off his pants. He’s wearing green pants and white dress shirt, now stained with Ivar’s blood. Dammit. It’s a nice shirt on him too. “I guess you are the best for it,” the researcher extends a hand.

 

“Don’t you forget it,” Ivar hazards a tiny grin, grabbing the offered hand. It’s a bit hard to get a balance with his right arm out of commission, but Jude is deceptively strong (Ivar has found this out the hard way more than once, and pulls the elder to his feet easily enough.

 

He’s still taller than Jude, Ivar realizes with a small feeling of triumph. They’d both experienced a growth spurt over the past two years, and Ivar is proud to be 5’10” to Jude’s 5’8”.

 

“I won’t,” Jude lets go of Ivar’s hand, producing a small rag from a pocket in his coat to wipe his hands of blood. Ivar looks at the ground and whistles. He’s mildly surprised that he didn’t bleed out. “I gave you an apple gel to restore some of your lost blood,” the researcher explains, probably reading the look on Ivar’s face. It’s smart, he wouldn’t expect anything less of Jude.

 

“Did you have to do much fighting?” Ivar questions curiously. Jude takes that moment to pull on a pair of seemingly simple leather gloves. He knows for a fact that there’s much more to them. 

 

“Not really,” Jude answers, eyes examining the area around them. Ivar could save him the trouble by telling him that he doesn’t sense any monsters within the radius, but there’s something fascinating about watching the researcher’s generally relaxed features sharpen with concentration. “It’s like that report you put out a few months back said, the traveling habits of monsters is shifting lately. A lot of them seem to have settled at this point.”

 

“You’ve read that?” Ivar asks, surprised.

 

“I have,” Jude nods, gesturing for Ivar to follow him. The agent wants to be indignant about that, but remembers enough to know that Jude has probably traversed the place about three times as much as Ivar himself. “It helps with going out to excavate spirit fossils. I’m glad they chose you to do it,” the doctor admits as if it’s no big thing, “you were able to accomplish what a lot of people couldn’t have.”

 

Ivar feels his heart race and his face flush at Jude’s genuine praise. It’s not often that he gets recognition for his work by someone who’s opinion matters (and he’s not delusional enough to tell himself that Jude’s opinion doesn’t matter. It matters a  _ lot _ ).

 

“Didn’t realize it made that much of a difference,” Ivar mutters in response, following the shorter at Jude moves, bypassing the ladders or climbable cliff faces. “We’re going the long way?” he asks.

 

“In a manner of speaking,” Jude responds, “it’s just to avoid a path that’ll be too strenuous on your arm. But it actually shouldn’t take much longer. There’s a lot of inclines, but it cuts through and under some of the longer stretches above.”

 

“Just how many times have you been here?” Ivar asks. This place is dangerous. Ivar himself can cut through the monsters here without too much trouble, which means Jude is also more than capable. But accidents happen, as Ivar has been so rudely reminded today. He knows that Jude came here a lot with Lady Milla and Ludger, but does does the boy come by himself nowadays? This is one of the most lucrative spots for spirit fossils, as far as Ivar has heard. 

 

“Too many to count by now,” Jude says absently in response. Which does not ease Ivar’s mind.

 

“You shouldn’t come here alone,” he hears his own voice saying without his permission. Jude gives him a curious look over his shoulder, but does not stop walking. “Trust me,” Ivar goes on wryly, “I would know.”

 

“I suppose you’re right about that,” Jude shrugs. “Coming here alone isn’t ideal, but it’s not like I can stop doing it. I have a lot of deadlines to meet this year, with the higher ups wanting something to put out.” 

 

Ivar frowns. Jude always has a lot of deadlines, how is it possible for them to have made more?

 

“Not everyone is free all the time,” Jude explains, “I’d ask Leia or Alvin, but they both have a lot going on now too. I’d feel bad.”

 

Yeah. A do-gooder.

 

“You should have just asked me,” Ivar boasts. Stupid mouth. 

 

“Oh?” Jude asks amusedly, looking back at Ivar again.

 

“Yeah,” the agent decides to just go for it, “We already agreed that I’m the best for this sample collecting thing, and that my knowledge on monsters is helpful. I have a lot of free time when I’m not doing info runs.”

 

Ivar is mainly just talking at this point. But it’s all true at least. He’s primarily an intelligence and contact agent, which means he has all of the time around meeting his contacts to himself normally.

 

“Really?” Jude asks, looking like he’s actually considering it. Ivar is shocked. 

 

“Yeah,” but it doesn’t mean he’ll go back on it. He’s right anyway. Jude shouldn’t be coming here alone anymore than Ivar should have come alone today. “Give me a call the next time you have to come here.”

 

Jude smiles again. “I might just do that,” he states, “it gets kind of lonely from time to time.”

 

Ivar decides not to examine how happy hearing that seems to make him

 

True to Jude’s word, it doesn’t take them very long to get back to cave mouth of the place. They don’t even get bothered by any monsters. Ivar finds a new appreciation for doctors (specifically Jude) as well, because he’s able to walk and move as if he hadn’t been injured at all, minus the arm. He knows that he’ll be stiff later as his body tries to acclimate to the newly healed muscles, but Ivar feels like that’s going to be the worst of it.

 

It’s about midday on the Rusalle Highroad as they step out of the Abyss, and Ivar huffs as he realizes that half of his day is gone because some monster knocked him off of a cliff, and he didn’t even get to pay it back.

 

“If we keep going at this pace, it should just be about a half hour to Helioborg,” Jude states, “are you ok to keep going?”

 

“Of course,” Ivar says confidently, “I can make it, you don’t have to slow down on my account.”

 

“Ok then,” Jude agrees easily enough, “You’ll probably be feeling tired soon, so it’s best if we get there so you can lie down.”

 

“Right,” Ivar doesn’t generally fight alongside healing arte users, so he’d forgotten that other than stiffness, healing artes have the tendency to completely wipe people out.

 

Crossing the highroad doesn’t actually take half an hour so much as it takes like twenty minutes. Because Jude is fast, and Ivar is fast. The agent imagines that Jude is used to slowing down his own pace for a larger group or someone who can’t really match him in speed.

 

Ivar isn’t a big fan of the Helioborg Fortress. It’s too dull for his tastes, as things in Elympios tend to be. But Helioborg has a special type of monotony to it, and the air always feels stifled and stuffy. Jude leads him into the main building, people stopping the researcher along the way to acknowledge him or ask a question. 

 

It’s hard to forget that this eighteen year old kid basically runs this entire institute now. Ivar isn’t going to pretend like he doesn’t respect that. He also respects how gracious Jude is to everyone that stops him, never brushing anyone off and always addressing them by a name.

 

“I’m going to take the samples you collected to Balan,” Jude says during a break in activity, before gesturing to a middle-aged lady who appeared quietly halfway through their trek. If Ivar isn’t mistaken, this person is Elaine, a secretary recommended to Jude by Spirius. “I’m going to have Elaine here set you up in my office,” Jude explains, “I’ll come up and heal your arm, and then you’ll probably want to take a nap or something on the pull-out before you try to do anything else.”

 

So he was right. Ivar is about to insist that he doesn’t need a babysitter, but Jude smiles and runs off before he even opens his mouth. 

 

“Ok then,” Ivar mutters, turning to the blonde woman. “How’s he holding up?”

 

It’s not like he spends a lot of time wondering how Jude is doing or anything like that…

 

“His research is going well,” Elaine states simply, gesturing for Ivar to follow. “It looks like he’s going to meet his next two deadlines with time to spare. Dr. Mathis is also doing well with upholding his ethical obligations.”

 

“Of course he is,” Ivar snorts as they take a few turns, “I don’t even understand why they insisted on having someone watch him this closely. Jude is a noble guy. Lady Milla wouldn’t have stood for anything less.”

 

Elaine shrugs as she opens the door to what Ivar guesses it’s Jude’s office.

 

“And anyway,” he continues, “I was asking how he was doing. Not how his research is doing.”

 

Jude’s office is packed. It seems organized, but the sheer amount of research texts and and papers is overwhelming. There’s also several random pieces of what Ivar thinks are spyrite prototypes in various places. The couch Jude was talking about is thankfully clear though, but just looking at the desk gives the agent anxiety. How does the kid deal with that much paperwork?

 

“Not sure what you’re talking about,” Elaine states.

 

“Seriously?” Ivar snorts. “How is he doing?” He asks again, “Is he sleeping well? Is he eating well? Does he seem stressed?”

 

“Ah,” Elaine nods, “I always forget that you two are...involved, in a way..”

 

Ivar flushes. “I-involved is  _ not  _ the right word for it!” he splutters, “We don’t see or talk to each other nearly enough for that to be a thing!”

 

“Whatever,” Elaine shrugs, “you have an attachment. Which means you can easily ask him those questions yourself.”

 

Ivar huffs, putting his left hand on his hip (since he can’t cross his arms) as Elaine turns and exits the room. He really doesn’t like her.

 

With nothing left to do but wait for Jude, Ivar sets about being nosy. 

 

The researcher has lot of high-level textbooks. Ivar always finds himself shocked by just much history is recorded here in Elympios. A lot of them are patient trials too. Ivar leaves them alone. He’s heard through the grapevine that Jude does not like people reading direct transcripts of patient’s trials unless they were directly involved. Something about privacy and confidentiality. The spirius agent wonders where Celsius is. Or the old Maxwell for that matter. Does Jude keep both of those spyrites on his person? Or does he set them down in here when he doesn’t need.

 

_ No _ , Ivar thinks,  _ he probably keeps them in his home when not on his person _ . Jude seems like the type of person who would take into account the fact that the spirits might not like being cooped up in a lab office all the time.

 

A quick glance over a stack of books on the coffee table in front of the couch, and something catches Ivar’s eye. His own words.

 

“My monster report,” he mutters, picking up the book. It’s open, Jude had apparently been reading about the travel patterns of monsters in Reize Maxia. 

 

Ivar had never written a report before this one. He was always an information collector and passer with Spirius, so hhe’d been surprised when the request to do this came through in the first place. He’d needed a lot of help writing it. In fact, Jude’s staff-wielding reporter friend had actually given him a lot of useful advice. It had taken a long time, but Ivar was eventually able to turn in a report that was accurate and easy to read. He’d been very proud of it. It shocked him a bit when he found out that it would be published, but no one really brought it up after the initial conversation, so he’d assumed that only a select few people chose to read it anyway. 

 

For Jude to be one of those people…

 

“Ready to get to work on that arm?” said researcher shuffles into the room, bringing with him the scent of fresh detergent and whatever nutty shampoo he uses. Ivar turns to see Jude with a bundle of clothes in one arm and some odd contraption in the other. “Oh?” the younger notices Ivar’s hand thumbing through the pages, “I see you found your report.”

 

Is that a blush? 

 

“Didn’t realize you were so into it,” Ivar murmurs. Jude’s changed shirts somewhere, now in a simple black t-shirt. It’s a really nice shirt on him. 

 

Ivar must stare for a bit too long, because that’s definitely a blush he sees rising up on the boy’s cheeks.

 

“Y-yeah,” Jude mutters, walking in further and setting the clothes and the device on the couch. “It’s really helpful,” he explains, “and you wrote it so…”

 

“Is that why you read it often?” Ivar hazards a guess here, “‘Cause I wrote it?”

 

“I mean…” Jude shrugs noncommittally, “...yes?”

 

Ivar might feel just a bit breathless.

 

“So we’re going to use this to help keep your arm set while I heal it,” Jude powers on, picking up the device. “And then I brought some clothes for you to change into.”

 

“Oh yeah,” Ivar grimaces, suddenly remembering that his uniform is ruined, and reeks of blood and dirt. “Good idea.”

 

“There’s also a shower attached to this office,” Jude offers, reaching and taking a hold of Ivar’s arm. 

 

“Do you live here or something?” Ivar asks, wincing as Jude begins taking apart the makeshift brace on his arm. How the hell did he make it anyway? Ivar does not remember seeing that many sticks lying around in the Abyss.

 

“Sometimes I end up sleeping here,” Jude murmurs, completely focused on his task. “Especially when I’m close to a deadline or a conference.”

 

“Don’t you have at least one of those once a month or something?” Ivar asks, a bit concerned. “When’s the last time you went home?”

 

“Last week,” Jude says simply.

 

“You haven’t left this place in a  _ week _ !?” the agent asks loudly as Jude begins attaching clamps and a circular brace to his arm.

 

“We’re coming to a breakthrough in interpreting the messages from the fossils,” the doctor explains as if it’s the most normal thing in the world to not go home and sleep in one’s own bed for an entire week, “if it’s going to become for mass usage, then we need a standard way of decoding the pact for the common people.”

 

“You don’t get sick of this place?” Ivar asks incredulously as Jude begins performing a healing arte. He mentally prepares himself, healing artes generally take care of pain too, but no in the case of healing bones. That’s always a least a little bit painful.

 

“I don’t have time to get sick of it,” Jude says simply. 

 

Ivar doesn’t say anything, both because the pain kicks in that moment, and because he doesn’t know what to say to that.

 

By the time Jude’s done with his arm, the sun has gone down outside, so the first thing the doctor does is to go and flick on two lamps.

 

“Good as new,” Jude mutters with smile. And he’s right. Ivar tests his arm after the younger pulls the contraption off, and finds himself once again impressed by Jude Mathis. 

 

“You’re good at this,” Ivar acknowledges. The doctor smiles, amber eyes gleaming in the dim lighting.

 

“Happy to help,” is the response. Ivar gulps, looking away from Jude’s eyes and examining the room for something else to focus on. It’s how he remembers the clothes lying on the couch.

 

“About that shower,” Ivar murmurs, because he really does feel gross by this point, standing around in his damaged and bloody clothes.

 

“Oh yeah!” Jude nods, grabbing the clothes and placing them into Ivar’s arms. “You’re a bit taller than me-,” Ivar smirks proudly, “-don’t make that face- but these should fit you.”

 

“Alright then,” the agent grins, feeling smug about his height and about the exasperated expression on Jude’s face. It’s without much ceremony that Ivar goes into the adjoining bathroom with the clothes, frowning at how well-stocked it is. He doesn’t know why, but he wishes that Jude wouldn’t work so much.

 

It’s an odd thing to wish for, Ivar thinks as he turns the water on. Jude’s work will help the world, will make it closer to the ideal that he and Lady Milla shared. Ivar should be encouraging it just based on that. If Jude is willing to forego his own comfort to stay true to this path, then shouldn’t Ivar want for him to continue doing that? He knows that he admires the younger boy for his drive and his skill, and Jude’s dedication to his work and the people he cares about is admittedly something that Ivar has come to find beautiful. 

 

Ivar strips down and steps into the shower, sighing and relishing in the streams of hot water. 

 

It’s a bit like with Lady Milla. Ivar wanted to follow her to the ends of the world, wanted to her to see her goal through. But he can admit now that he was selfish about it. Because while he did (does) genuinely care about her, he cared more about his own purpose and what he meant to her. Being able to stand and want her to reach her goal without feeling the need to be the one to get her there was a liberating feeling, and allowed Ivar to really see her for the inspirational person that she was, and he was content to let her trailblaze her way through her mission. 

 

Jude is doing much of the same thing now. Ivar doesn’t know if the younger realizes just how alike he is to Lady Milla. It’s different though. Jude is much more subtle in his taking on the world than Lady Milla was, but it’s no less admirable. Ivar can’t remember thinking about her the way he thinks about Jude nowadays though. He wants Jude to succeed, and constantly thinking about being around him is nothing new to Ivar, it’s just for a more positive reason now. 

 

Ivar picks up a shampoo bottle. Coconut. That’s what he always smells on Jude.

 

He wants to help Jude, Ivar realizes. But not like he wanted to help Lady Milla. He wanted to be a part of the blaze that Lady Milla commanded, wanted her to need him and rely on him as she had before. With Jude, Ivar feels like he wants grab the doctor and tell him to slow down. Wants to make sure he’s well-rested and well-fed and healthy and  _ happy _ . 

 

That’s it, Ivar realizes as he shuts the water off. 

 

Ivar somehow has developed a burning desire to see Jude happy. That’s the difference. He wanted to see Lady Milla satisfied with him. Pleased with him.

 

Jude? He just wants Jude to never lose that smile. Which Ivar is afraid will happen if the doctor gives himself over to this research too much. 

 

There’s fresh towels stacked on the sink. Ivar grabs one, drying himself haphazardly and wringing his hair out, opting to braid his hair down instead of putting it back up. Jude’s hair is probably long enough to braid.

 

“Oh geez,” Ivar murmurs, “could I be any more lame?”

 

He can feel the post-healing exhaustion creeping up on him, which is probably what has his thoughts and feelings a bit more honest and bit softer than usual. He wonders how Jude is doing. The doctor has done most of the work today, he must be dead on his feet..

 

The agent slips on the black lounge pants and soft red hooded shirt that Jude handed him. The implications of being cloaked in the younger’s scent is maddening. Ivar hurries out of the bathroom before he thinks himself into an awkward situation.

 

Jude is working when Ivar steps out, going through a making notes on the ridiculous amount of paperwork on his desk. The agent huffs.

 

“Feel better?” the researcher turns around to look at Ivar, eyes widening the slightest fraction. 

 

“Much,” Ivar nods, watching as a blush stretches over Jude’s cheeks. “You aren’t about to keep working after all of that healing right?”

 

“I ate an orange gel,” Jude shrugs, reaching up to scratch at his hair. The black t-shirt stretches a bit. It’s a really,  _ really _ , nice shirt on him. 

 

“But you must still be tired,” Ivar crosses his arms, “would it kill you to take it easy?”

 

“I’ll rest after I finish going over these reports,” the younger says, but Ivar calls bull.

 

“Please take it easy,” he says, “it would make me feel better.”

 

It’s not something Ivar would normally say. It’s also a low blow. Jude’s face immediately becomes conflicted, looking at Ivar and then at the papers. 

 

“You can do all of that tomorrow,” Ivar insist, “Elaine says you’re going to meet your deadline with time to spare, right?”

 

“Yeah,” Jude murmurs hesitantly, “but there are other things to thinks about…”

 

“And they can wait,” Ivar says firmly, “If I’m going to sleep after you saved my life today, then you have to at least rest.”

 

The younger chuckles, “Ivar.”

 

Ivar takes a step forward, “thank you.”

 

“Huh?” Jude stares at him.

 

Ivar feels his face flush. He clears his throat before he goes on.

 

“Thank you,” he says, “I haven't said it once today, but I appreciate all that you’ve done for me.I’m glad it was you.” 

 

The spirius agent feels like his face is going to melt off by the time he’s done saying that one sentence, and the feeling doubles when Jude’s stunned face softens into the sweetest smile.

 

“Ivar,” Jude says softly.

 

“What!?” Ivar looks away. Damn pretty boys with nice voices.

 

Jude stands from his desk, moving across the room steadily until he’s standing in front of the elder.

 

“Ivar,” Jude says, voice still quiet. “Will you look at me?”

 

That’s probably not good for Ivar’s health at the moment, but he’s no coward. So he turns and looks back down at Jude. His breath hitches.

 

Jude’s still smiling that smile. That smile like what he’s looking at is everything he wants and needs in the world at the moment. And what he’s looking at now is Ivar. His  eyes are so fond too. Ivar almost can’t believe that he himself is able to inspire such a breath-taking look. He can’t believe he just thought of Jude Mathis as  _ breath-taking! _

 

Warm hands curl around his arms, and Ivar allows Jude to uncross his arms, feeling goosebumps pop up in the wake as the younger drags his hands down Ivar’s forearms until he reaches his hands.

 

“I’m glad you’re ok,” Jude admits softly, “I was worried about you.”

 

Ivar sighs softly as the doctor slowly laces their fingers together. It feels so  _ nice _ .

 

“How could I not be?” the agent asks quietly, “You were the one looking out for me.”

 

This thing between them, this understanding, that they’ve developed slowly ever since their jobs started intersecting more and more two years ago. It’s never felt quite so...intimate before. Ivar would be lying if he said he didn’t like it though.

 

Jude blushes a bit, but his eyes seem to light up at Ivar’s words.

 

Ivar likes this. He likes it a lot. This is the first time he’s been close enough to count Jude’s eyelashes. And he likes it. So. Much.

 

“Ivar?” 

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Do you have to go back immediately tonight or tomorrow?” Jude asks unsurely. Ivar takes a second to think about whether or not he has any upcoming missions.

 

“I don’t,” he answers. He has a couple of days to himself before he has to travel anywhere.

 

“Oh,” Jude bites his lip a bit. “Will you,” the doctor clears his throat, gathering his resolve apparently. “Will you stick around for a little bit then?” he asks softly, “You probably have things you want to do though-”

 

“I want to be around you,” Ivar says out of nowhere, eyes widening immediately after..

 

Except.

 

It really isn’t out of nowhere.

 

“Yeah,” Ivar nods, staring at Jude’s flushed but hopeful face. “I want be with you,” he says confidently, “so you’re stuck with me. Which means you’ll need to take lots of breaks tomorrow, and be done for tonight.”

 

Jude chuckles, looking down and right back up.

 

“I think I can manage that,” the doctor says.

 

Ivar gives Jude’s hands a squeeze, lets his head fall forward until their foreheads are pressed together and they’re sharing each other’s air.

 

Ivar grins, “Good.”

**Author's Note:**

> So if it's not clear, Ivar and Jude have seen more of each other over the course of time and have struck up this odd friendship/flirtationship over time, and now they're finally acknowledging this day that there's something between them. 
> 
> I've always kind of like the whole 'we-know-we -like-each-other-but -we're-still-waiting-for-some-unknown-reason', because it makes for super cute scenes in my opinion.
> 
> My goal is to get other people to like this ship lol. I kid, I just really wanted to get this out here because I feel like there's so much adorable to be had in this dynamic! This is getting marked as complete for now, but I may add onto if there's interest or if I just feel like I want to through some more Jude X Ivar into the world.
> 
> Everyone be safe and happy! Buh-Bye for now!


End file.
